Easily distracted by shiny objects.

September 30, 2012

Back in Lima and resting up for the flight home. Glad to be back at sea level. I got the turista finally and was very sick for 24 hours. But I feel OK now thanks to major antibiotics and a diet of coke and gatoraide. This has been a splendid trip. Much to say and photos to post when I get home.

September 27, 2012

Sightseeing around the Cusco area today. We're. All doing surprisingly well with the amount of trudging round at these altitudes that it takes to really see anything. The panoramas of town hills valleys villages far off peaks are astonishing.
After our hiking experiences we went to a restaurant where we ate italian food the equal of any we had in Italy. Now it's siesta time!

I didn´t want to leave Terry all alone in a hotel room in a strange country, so I was very happy to have my Kindle reader and Kindle Fire to keep me entertained while he rested and recovered from his double whammy turista and altitude sickness.

I think it will be good to get the crew back to Cusco. I don´t know why the altitude is so much harder to deal with here. It´s only 1,000 feet or so higher than Cusco. But even though people aren´t feeling their best, especially Mary and Terry, we have to visit the reed islands, because they are what Lake Titicaca is famous for.

I have become accustomed to South American plumbing arrangements which, for those of you who do not know, involves putting TP in a little bin next to the toilet rather than flushing it down. Every once in a while I forget, but so far there have been no disasters.

September 24, 2012

Now Terry is the one who is out of commission. I think Mary got it the worst. It could be a combination of food poisoning and altitude sickness. She says, darkly, ¨Your turn will come too." So around noon we´re going to hire a couple of those little motorized three wheeledvehicles they have here and have them take us down to the lake.

But now I can spend the time working on getting some photos out to you. Maybe catch up to a few of your blogs, too.

This is a ring around the sun that we saw at an Inca ruin yesterday. First time any of us had seen one of these.

I will add colorful folklore stuff, scenery, restaurants, etc. later It is not possible to point a camera anywhere in the country without finding something worth taking a picture of.

Right now I have scorching fast wi fi at our 3 star hotel in Puno, better than at home . We didn't bring a computer and I'm posting from my Kindle Fire. A little awkward, but it works. Not set up to post photos until I get home, though. Thanks to you wonderful commenters. To have such a life changing experience at this time in my life makes me feel like one of the most privileged of mortals.

September 22, 2012

Just got a look at the most incredible poverty I have ever seen going through Juliaca.even Mary, a Peace Corps vet inGuatamala who has travelled extensively in poor countries was overwhelmed.
So the Big Mystery is solved! The poverty negates everything else. Trying to eliminate poverty this dire in this country is an exercise in futility and.yet good people try. St. Jude is their patron. Everything that can be said has been said and what is unspeakable we cant speak about.
...wittgenstein